Regarding its subtitle, “A Conceptual Framework for Recorded Human History”, North, Wallis, and Weingast’s Violence and Social Orders, aims high as it unearths a timeless model for the evolution of human societies. The authors ultimately identify a universal mechanism for the formation (and evolution) of societies, namely the need to resolve the endemic tendency of humans to compete for power through violent means. Using a wide sample of geographic histories and nuanced analysis, they have succeeded in creating a seminal contribution to state-building and development theory. To read more download the PDF.